AG North: Fierce fighting in 18th Army’s sector. 10 miles advanced on Leningrad, 30 left, and those are the 30 miles with the heavy fortifications. PzGr 4 will pull out here next turn after it is unable to storm Novgorod and is out of supply. Otto Forster’s VI Corps was reinforced with two new divisions and moved from PzGr 3 to 16th Army. They will take over the Novgorod sector as soon as possible. X Corps (Christian Hansen) will also leave the Velikie Luki sector and relocate to the north (they are already part of 16th Army). Only II Corps (Graf von Brockdorff-Ahlefeldt) remains at Velikie Luki and is now the rightmost unit of AG North.

AG Central: The 9th Army and PzGr 3 come to a screeching halt around Smolensk. PzGr 3 can not be supplied, neither or on the ground, nor through the air and has to roll to the rear to catch their breath. 9th Army fills out the Smolensk salient as good as possible. 2nd Army helps to completely seal off Smolensk by advancing on the south bank of the Dnepr. The southern group of the army group crosses the Dnepr-Desna peninsula and closes in on Chernigov. Overall, little action here.

AG South: Assault on Kiev bei 17th Army, supported by 6th Army, fails. Of course. Would have been the first thing to work out here. Cherkassy and Cherson on the Dnepr are conquered by PzGr 1 and 17th Army (Cherkassy) and 11th Army (Cherson). At Krivoi Rog the advance stalls. A massive frontal assault on Odessa by the 4th Rom. Army at 6:1 odds fails bloodily. I didn’t expect anything else.

I have to make significant gains before winter now or I don’t think – from what I’ve seen in other AARs here – that I will last much past 1943. First and foremost I need to create a pocket whereever possible. And a big one. And quick so.

AG North: Certainly no chance for a pocket here with PzGr 4 about to withdraw south. Before withdrawing however, the PzGr conquers Novgorod and isolates a strong tank formation west of the city. Whether that micro pocket will hold is doubtful. 18th Army has fought it’s way to Krasnogvardeysk and Pushkin at the gates of Leningrad, but is stuck there. The fortifications are horribly strong (level 3 or 4) and can not be taken from the west. The advance was too slow after all. 16th Army stretches out to make the removal of PzGr 4 next turn possible. They already cover 150 miles of front from Lake Ilmen to south of Velikie Luki.

AG Center: The defenders of Smolensk have been promoted to Guards status. No wonder. They’ve been slowing down advance here for ages now. Their efforts ultimately were for nothing, though. Smolensk falls this turn. While PzGr 3 will pull out and rest for one or two turns where it can be supplied, 2nd Army crashes through the defenses south of the Dnepr, southeast of Smolensk. PzGr 2 pushes northeast from Novozybkov. Lack of fuel prohibits major gains. Another push with 4th Army takes Chernigov and gets a foothold on the eastern bank of the Desna.

AG South: Recon shows Soviets concentrating across the Dnepr at Cherkassy. In contrast, the approach to Dnipropetrowsk and Zaporoshye seems lightly defended. Strange indeed. Panzers break the weak Soviet lines in the Dnepr bend and get to within 30 miles of Dnipropetrowsk. Small pocket is formed at Krivoi Rog. Kiev falls this turn to a massive assault from five sides, but PzGr 1 and 17th Army fail to get a bigger bridgehead at Cherkassy. Two PzDivs cross the river this turn, but the railroad bridge is still held by Russians. Odessa still holds. These Romanians are making themselves completely useless here. I can’t believe I have to bring in German troops from 11th Army, which would have better things to do!!

Soviets don’t give me a single success here. Every mini pocket I made last turn was not sealed off and went up again (with the exception of the one unit trapped on the peninsula south of the Dnepr mouth), and all my threats to create pockets were used by the Russians to contract through retreat and consolidate their lines. Arf.

AG North: 18th Army is stuck at Krasnogvardeysk. The Soviet forts are too strong, continuing impossible. 16th Army will have to conduct a push from Novgorod. Meanwhile PzGr 4 moves south, giving one InfDiv to 16th Army. Another reinforcement division is added to 16th Army’s LVI Corps as well for more power in the Novgorod area.

AG South: Surprisingly enough for me XVII and LV Corps of 6th Army have forced across the Dnepr at Kiev, breaching the Soviet lines. This comes so surprising that I have no mobile units available in this sector to exploit the breakthrough with the exception of the mobilized Slovakian division. I’m terrible…….. Forward units of 11th Army reach the entrance to the Krim. Now they only have to sneak through. PzGr 1 fails to advance on Dnipropetrowsk. I need to get infantry up here. Two corps from 6th Army which were intended to exploit the Cherkassy crossing are brought further east for an assault on Dnipropetrowsk. 17th Army units will pour into the Cherkassy bridgehead next turn. Romanians entered Odessa this turn. No, no, stop, don’t cheer. It was not really their fault. It seems that the Soviet defenders were laughing so many tears from their miserable attempts at making an assault that thousands of them accidentally drowned in the Black Sea. Odessa was found abandoned when Ion B., private in the XI Romanian Corps accidentally walked into the city after taking the wrong road on his way back from the hole in the woods, where – you know what…

AG North: The entire front has become bogged down north of Lake Peipus. No advance, minor gains for some breathing space at Novgorod, only mounting losses. I’m stuck. 16th Army still covers the front all the way down to Velikie Luki along the Lovat river. Some attacks here. No gains worth mentioning.

AG Center: The push east continues, but it is not a very powerful push. The 9th Army eliminates the Soviet front bulge around Ilyino and pockets two brigades (wow!). This should shorten the front line a bit next turn. Other units of 9th Army cross the Dnepr along the railroads leading towards Vyazma. XII and XXXXVII PzCorps of PzGr 2 have breached Soviet lines of defense at Unecha. Some elements have reached the Sudost just a bit west of Bryansk. The Soviet line further north facing 2nd Army has become unhinged. Only and obvious concern here: fuel……. Other breaches are made at Semenovka and further south along the Desna river. Down here and to the east of Kiev the Russians are not defending, but constantly retrating at the moment. And I punish them for cowardice.

AG South: The 4th Army from the Desna, the 6th Army from Kiev, the 17th Army from Kiev and Cherkassy, and PzGr 1 from Cherkassy all slam into the disorganized Russians here. I know that look. The distinctive look of total chaos. Two of those small pockets might not hold, which is especially sad in the case of the northwestern one. Further east 6th Army closes in on Dnipropetrowsk and other troops clear the western bank of the Dnepr with the exception of a small stretch of front downriver from Cherkassy. While 11th Army advances in the lower Dnepr area below Zaporozhye, some restructuring is done to the Romanian army group. XXX Corps (11th Army) distributes most of it’s troops among the other corps. German divisions are added to German corps, Romanian divisions to the III Rom. Corps. XXX Corps with a single infantry division then travels north. It will eventually end up with 16th Army. The front is so long there, I need another corps HQ.

AG North: Some advance west of the Volkhov river. But a new assault on Krasnogvardeysk, which to me seems to be the key to the southwestern Leningrad defenses, fails miserably. But at least 18th Army destroyed over 160 tanks in the attack. These days, you have to cherish the small successes. However small they are. South of Lake Ilmen 16th Army holds the Lovat river line, then protrudes east around Velikie Luki. Here is an interesting strategic option. The swamps east of the Lovat and other rivers here are hard to supply. There is a rail line at Lake Ilmen, and another one running east of the hills here and into Velikie Luki. If I make it to Adreapol southeast of the hills, supply might be cut to the southern part of the Soviet line close to Velikie Luki. This is a task for II Corps, which attacks east and wrecks the 1st Tank Division, destroying over 150 tanks. Adreapol is not reached yet, but the momentum is definitely there. XX Corps from 9th Army (AGC) will aid in the push.

AG Center: 9th Army, 2nd Army, and PzGr 2 generally push east, but the latter has already run out of steam well short of Bryansk because of a lack of fuel. A small pocket was made along the Besna, but it contains only infantry.

Kiev area (AGC/AGS): As expected the pocket with the tanks broke up again. It doesn’t help them, though. 4th, 6th, and 17th Army pocket them again and also push east. Along the Dnepr, elements from 17th Army and PzGr 1 reach the Psel river. There is a Soviet front bulge here. Romanian and Hungarian troops hold it to the south, but are too weak to attack.

Lower Dnepr (AGS): Dnipropetrowsk falls to the 6th Army assaulting from south west. Deeper in the south Romanians and 11th Army clean up and try to enter the Krim peninsula.

I’m actually in good mood as far as the South is concerned. But don’t get me talking about the north.

AG Center: 9th Army gains some more ground in front of Vyazma. In the sector of 2nd Army and PzGr 2 the Russians are in disorder. Some small pockets are made, often only with one or two infantry units. PzGr 3 is rested and resupplied and will take part in an offensive directed in the sector of 2nd Army. PzGr 4 has reached the area around Vitebsk and Smolensk, where it will also rest and resupply. PzGr 2 continues to wreck the weak Russian defenses.

Kiev area (AGC/AGS): 4th Army advances up to 40 miles between Romny and the Desna river. Soviets can’t make a stand here. Further southeast PzGr 1 and 17th Army face resistance. Pocketing is impossible here, the Soviet lines are 50 miles deep, yet weak.

Lower Dnepr: 6th Army battles it’s way over the Dnepr in the Dnipropetrowsk area. 11th Army has not been able to open up the Krim peninsula yet.